Vitaly Nesis Interview:Fall in gold production to be inevitable in the next three years

World gold production is going through hard times: the metal prices are low, and long-term prospects of the industry remain uncertain. One of the largest Russian gold mining companies Polymetal develops the project of Kyzyl, bought in 2014 and last month bought a deposit in Armenia. The company’s general director Vitaly Nesis tells the Kommersant about that, where it is necessary to invest, how profitable the cheap ruble is for the industry and why Polymetal needs diamond projects.

- Since the beginning of the year, the gold prices grow slowly – does it please you?

- Yes, of course, it pleases, but the price is a quite ephemeral matter: today, they grow up, tomorrow they will fall. For a while, there are no fundamental reasons for this growth, and I prefer to treat it as a short-term phenomenon.

- And what price of gold do you lay in this year's budget?

- We laid $1100 per ounce and a course of 72 rubles per dollar. There is no prediction, we just took round figures that are closest to the current values ​​at the time of the budget consideration.

- Can the level of $1100 be overcome for the whole year? Now the price is higher ...